Money issues: The struggle is real! Can I be honest with you all!

I blog about budget occasionally and also about how to do things for less money like Christmas for less, Summer fun for less, etc. but I haven’t really talked about our financial situation before. I think a lot of that has to do with being ashamed and embarrassed with our money issues. I think that it’s time though to open up and share with all of you. I know that I have some great readers out there and you all have been so positive and supportive so I feel I can open up about this topic. So this first post is going to be a little bit about my husband and my background with money.

Money has never been something we were particularly smart about and we always kind of blamed our bad decisions on being young and foolish. The problem is we aren’t that young anymore and it’s time to start being smart about our finances and get our family on the right path. So my husband’s name is Blake if you don’t know that and I’m Karissa. We have been married for almost 11 years and together for 16 years. We started dating in high school and got married a few years after. When I was 19 and he was 22. See we were very young when all this started. Then a couple years later we had our daughter Bella who is now almost nine.

During the first few years of our marriage and our daughter’s life we lived with family and roommates. We couldn’t afford a place of our own and this solved that problem.We should have saved more money when we weren’t responsible for all the bills on our own but like I said we were foolish. When Bella was born Blake started working a new job and he’s currently there as a part time manager. It pays decent and they have good benefits so even though it’s only part time it’s been a good fit. The hope is that at some point he finds something full time that is a good fit. I use to go to school and I was working as a nanny when Bella was little. Then our lives changed forever and our financial situation changed.

If you’ve read my blog then you probably know that in 2010 I had a stroke. It was a shock to us and came out of nowhere. I was only 25 at the time it happened. I had to stop working and went on disability. I tried going back to school but it was too hard on me both physically and emotionally. I deal with a lot of stress and anxiety issues as a side effect of my stroke. So after trying a semester I decided that the stress to my body while still trying to recover wasn’t worth it. Plus I didn’t know for sure what I even wanted to do with a degree. So I stopped a few years ago at some point in the future I may decide to go back to school but it’s not in my plans right now.

So losing my income and going on disability brought us down to less income each month. We also moved into a home that my grandparents owned in a trailer park. It’s not big but it works for our family of three. Eventually it was gifted to us by my grandma so we own it but we pay a rental fee each month for the space it’s in. This is a lot cheaper than renting or buying another place and has made it affordable for us to live on our own.

So Now here we are. It’s been five years since my stroke, we have our own place and we are struggling with money. It seems as soon as we solve one money crisis another one springs up. I know that we aren’t alone in this problem so I wanted to go public on my blog and share my story and our journey. So hopefully we can support each other and learn new things about budgeting and finances along the way. That’s why I’m doing this. I want to be accountable to myself and to you my readers. I want to make changes and get smart about money.

So the plan is the next post about money I do will Detail everything about our finances. The good, the bad and the UGLY. I need to put it all out there and get real about making changes. Then I can start coming up with a plan to get us out of debt and to start saving some money. Right now my goal is to start blogging about money about once a week and since today’s Thursday and I don’t have a set post for Thursdays then it might become a Thursday thing. I don’t want to make this a money and finances blog but it’s a big issue in my life and I hope that through this blog I can help my family and yours. So what do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know please..

Comments

proud of you for publishing this vulnerable post. I have found that being transparent and keeping it real has exploded my personal growth. I applaud you for allowing us to take this journey with you.@savvysandwicher recently posted…Honoring my Dad’s birthday

What a great post, Karissa! I really admire your honesty and transparency. I think a lot of people can really benefit from that. We were’t always very responsible either in our younger days. I read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover book about six years ago and it was really helpful to change my approaches to money and budget. I can’t even imagine what an upheaval your life was in five years ago! It sounds like you’re on a good track and have/will have an even more powerful story as you continue to make changes you want in life. Best of luck with everything!Brooke recently posted…The New IN- Crowd: AMY

What a brave post. I say anything that helps you stay accountable to your goals is a good thing! We use the free online service called Mint to keep track of our finances – perhaps it’s something that would help you in your journey!Sara recently posted…Paint Balloon Art!

I’m sorry to hear about your stroke and financial troubles. Reading honest stories like yours makes me feel like I’m not alone. I’ve struggled financially for all of my adult life. I got pregnant when I was 17 and my boyfriend and I moved out when I was 18. We never had much family support, at least not any financial help, and it’s been very difficult.

So brave of you to put this out into the world! It might be a hard step, but having the insight to realise you need to make some changes is such a huge thing – and some people never make it to this point, so good on you! Good luck with everything, I look forward to following you along in your progress 🙂

Recognizing that you have financial troubles is the first step to improving them. Divorced when my daughter was 12 really kept me thinking about finances. It has been years now and we are doing ok. Not stressing but also money is not abundant. I learned to think every time I bought something. Every time I needed something I asked myself if I could make it cheaper or buy it for less. Will walk along with you on this journey to help each other.

So sorry to hear that you had a stroke but I’m so glad that you’ve recovered. Our teenager’s been sick for a couple of years so I totally understand how disability can impact finances because I’ve had to back away from a job outside our home. Best of luck to you to get everything on track. You can do it.Deb- It’s me, debcb! recently posted…Our baby story

Just by posting this it seems like you’re already headed in the right direction to make that changes you want to make. I’m so sorry to hear about your stroke and at such a young age too, hopefully with time you’ll be able to correct things and get your family in a better place.Rebecca recently posted…Pomegranate Citrus Rum Punch